Indonesia eID case witness dies in the US

An important witness in a biometric eID corruption investigation in Indonesia was killed last week in the US.

Johannes Marliem, 32, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, Los Angeles County Coroner’s spokeswoman Rayna Hernandez said Sunday.

Febri Diansyah, a spokesman for the Corruption Eradication Commission in Indonesia, told the Jakarta Post that Marliem died in the United States, but he said he didn’t have details.

Indonesian anti-corruption police allege that a network of about 80 people, mostly politicians, and several companies used the introduction of a $440 million electronic identity card system to steal more than a third of the allotted funds. Marliem was considered a key witness in the case.

Marliem was the director of Biomorf Lone LLC, a US-based company that had been awarded the project to procure the automated finger print identification system (AFIS) for the eID program.

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